large decayed basswood removal

[booboo]

Some pics from a big, multi leadered basswood with major decay that we did earlier this year. First time posting pics so sorry if they size is goofed up or the quality is not good.

Biggest basswood I've seen. 3 leaders at the base split off for a total of 8 leaders higher up. The tree had 9 cables in it but had become really unstable. Only 1 of the cables had pulled out, the piece it was lagged into had died and decayed. No way was this tree getting climbed. Subbed a bucket to get it down below all the cables and did the rest from the ground. The tree was over or within striking distance of the house, driveway, septic system, utility pole with primary and transformer, 3 service drops, and a second pole for the service. The leader headed over the driveway and towards the house had a huge cavity in it at the base and the stump was 6-7 feet across at ground level.

I'm not sure how to put the photos into the text of the post, so here's a description of the attachments. #1 is 7 of the 9 cables including the one that had pulled out. #2 is the base with 1 of the poles in the background. #3 is the base again. #4 is the cavity in the leader towards the house w/ a 372 for scale. #5 is the condition of the same leader about 20' up.

 

[booboo]

more....

Here's 3 more of the decay in the base off the basswood. #1 is the leader towards the driveway. #2 and #3 are the butts of the other 2 leaders.

 

[computeruser]

 

[computeruser]

Looks like that tree had seen better days! Good thing it got taken care of without any damage to people or property.

And thanks for the pics!!

 

[J.Walker]

Bass wood

Wish I could find a use for the Basswood trees in my wood lot. No market for the logs around here. My just cut them down and let them rot. Their rotting just like the tree in the photos.

 

[Justice]

amazing how trees will fight to stay alive.

Did you have any problem with the stalks separating after you removed the cables?
I assume you removed the whole top down to cables and then removed each cable one by one.? Was it necessary to rope the stalks together below the cables and chunk down further, or did you just remove all the cables and fell from ground?
Looks like a cool removal! Good client too, they already spent all the money cabling and trying to save that tree. Hopefully they have lots of other trees on their property.

 

[booboo]

amazing how trees will fight to stay alive.

Did you have any problem with the stalks separating after you removed the cables?
I assume you removed the whole top down to cables and then removed each cable one by one.? Was it necessary to rope the stalks together below the cables and chunk down further, or did you just remove all the cables and fell from ground?
Looks like a cool removal! Good client too, they already spent all the money cabling and trying to save that tree. Hopefully they have lots of other trees on their property.

We were concerned that the whole thing would start coming apart when we started to cut the cables, so yes, we took all the leaders down to the cables before we cut any of them. We were hoping that by taking the weight off, the cables would go slack and we would know that they could be cut safely. That didn't happen, most of them were still taught after the tops were gone, so we roped the leaders together with a bull rope before the cables came out. Then we chunked it down to the bull rope, which was set just below the lowest cable. That is why there is a hinge in the pic of the decay 20' up. By then, a lot of the weight was gone, so we just pulled the rope out and dropped the butts from the ground. It was kind of like defusing a bomb, chunking it down to each cable to try to take as much weight as possible off, then cutting the cable.

Unfortunately, it was the largest tree on the property, sort of the centerpiece of the yard, which is why so much effort went into maintaining it over the years.

BTW, thanks to computeruser for linking the photos directly into the thread. I'll figure this internet thing out someday...or not. :biggrinbounce2:

 

[Justice]

Thanks.. I asked because that is how I would have done it. Always interesting to see that we tree guys think alike. Shows that we are not hacks, and there is a process that we follow to do the job right, and safe. Always interested to see a better, or different way as well. Good post!

 

[booboo]

Thanks.. I asked because that is how I would have done it. Always interesting to see that we tree guys think alike. Shows that we are not hacks, and there is a process that we follow to do the job right, and safe. Always interested to see a better, or different way as well. Good post!

Nope, we're not all hacks, there is a method to our madness. That's why we get to do the stuff no one else can :biggrinbounce2:

 

[Sprig]

TY for sharing!

You did good on the sizin' of the pics too, kudos! Good job on the tree, its always interesting to see how folks do stuff.
For imbedding photos (under 150kb ideally), right click on the URL (that would be the http/arbourist/image(numbers)etc. in the 'attachment' box at the bottom of the post), go to properties and left click, then copy the address, exit, go to the little picture thingy above the post (looks like a picture) and left click, this will bring up a small window with a blued in http/, delete that and copy the pictures address, then click 'OK', then Bob's your uncle! (there are several other threads with similar info iffin ya does a search).

And thanks for the story and pics, as Thall would say "Coolbeans!"

Serge